Multiple Sclerosis (MS) derailed her life! Lauri L. Wolf's insightful memoir chronicles the game changing physical, emotional, and social challenges of her twenty-year experience with this progressive neurological disease. The book speaks to readers on two levels-personal and professional-and honestly examines the impacts on her body, mind, parenting, and attitude in living with a debilitating illness. Wolf's candor, humor, and scientific knowledge make The BS of my MS a valuable guide for trying to cope with the ravages of a disabling condition.
Having lived with Multiple Sclerosis ("MS") herself since 2001, author Lisa Cohen defines the "BS of MS" as an amalgam of the physical changes and losses caused by MS, the life changes and challenges that result, and the psychological and emotional "stuff" that comes along with those changes and challenges. This BS of MS may cause women living with MS to "live small," feel burdened, and feel defeated on a daily basis. An easy-read reference handbook, "Overcome the BS of MS" provides a 3-Step Plan that is a system of preparation, personal empowerment, and conscious forward action that is designed to help women living with MS to consistently overcome the BS of MS. "Overcome the BS of MS" is for any woman who wants to truly feel like she is actively living and enjoying a life that she chooses, even though she also happens to be living with MS. It provides the tools to get a grip on the "BS of MS," manage it like a boss, prevail over it, and start racking up wins.
So many of us are diagnosed with this lifelong debilitating disease that is far from easy to hear and 10X harder to live with. Its definitely life changing and it certainly can have its time when it decides that it just may want to cripple your mind and body. Thoughts of "Why me?, "What is going to happen to me?", "I just want to be normal again", I don't want to take this medicine for the rest of my life, "Will people treat me different?" are just a few things that can run through your mind. This is the short story version of my journey and where I am now 10 years later
This fast paced book tells the comically raw and honest story of Mario, a vivacious fashionista, who transform into the fabulous "awkward hitch" right before the eyes of everyone she knows. Marlo moved from New York to London to make it in the music business, aided by the money made at her day job as a luxury retail manager. Her plans are bamoozled when she starts to lose her eyesight after only a month of living in her dream city! Through a series of roller coaster events taking her to Paris, Miami, London, and New York, she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the most common disabling neurogical disease affecting young adults today.
Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) doesn’t have to mean your life is over. Everyone’s MS is different and no one can predict exactly what yours will be like. The fact is, lots of people live their lives with MS without making a full-time job of it. MS for Dummies gives you easy to access, easy to understand information about what happens with MS—what kinds of symptoms it can cause, how it can affect your life at home and at work, what you can do to feel and function up to snuff, and how you can protect yourself and your family against the long-term unpredictability of the disease. You'll learn: Why some people get MS and others don’t How to make treatment and lifestyle choices that work for you What qualities to look for in a neurologist and in the rest of your healthcare team How to manage fatigue, walking problems, and visual changes Why the road to diagnosis can be full of twists and turns How to understand the pros and cons of alternative medicine Why and how to talk to your kids about MS How to find stress management strategies that work for you Your rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act Complete with listings of valuable resources such as other books, Web sites, and community agencies and organizations that you can tap for information or assistance, MS for Dummies will tell you everything you need to know in order to make educated choices and comfortable decisions about life with MS.
We all experience seemingly unimportant events throughout our lives like a dangerous childhood act, the coworker we can't get along with, a promotion we desperately want and worked hard for but didn't receive, a lost love interest, some simple expression a teacher said, the time we hurt someone's feelings, the awful thing we said to someone we care about but can't take back, or something horrible we regretted doing. When we recall them from the perspective of life's rearview mirror, we realize these snippets of memory, "snipories"""perhaps trivial at the time""have profoundly impacted the person we have now become. The genre of "snipories" is difficult to classify. It is likely best characterized as a mixture of self-help, introspection, invaluable LEDRSHHIP traits and qualities (that isn't spelled incorrectly, but you have to read the book to understand) along with great advice about how to live a happy and successful life. Snipories contains a powerful, thought-provoking, and compelling message. It is filled with wisdom this country needs to hear. Through Little Stories, the reader is provided sound biblical reasons based on real-life personal experiences they can easily identify with for following the Word of God and living a Spirit-guided life based on Christian tenets. This book is entertaining, thought-provoking, and humorous. Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, religious persuasion, or lack thereof, you will see yourself and someone you know in this book. This book will make you think, and you will enjoy reading it. Snipories, Little Stories, Big Lessons is an absolute must read for everyone.
In the spring 1999, at eighteen years old, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The idea of a newly diagnosed book that focused on wellness began once I finally got my MS under control. It took four long years of understanding what my body needed to be healthy, while experiencing life as a college student at Appalachian State University. I found myself searching for a wellness summary of multiple sclerosis. Why couldn't I find everything I needed in one place? This idea seemed like something most newly diagnosed individuals would have already asked for, but it was nowhere to be found. I didn't want too much information at once, only what I needed to start out healthy and stay positive. In addition to needing a wellness summary, I sought to find other young people who were just beginning life with multiple sclerosis. I needed to know people who were positive and could laugh this off with me. In 2003, I established my role as an MS patients' advocate by founding with the help of the MS Society a young men's and women's group in middle Tennessee. Then in 2005, I was awarded the Betaseron Champion of Courage grant to write the book we have all been waiting for--a wellness guide to MS for the newly diagnosed. Lance Armstrong says it best when he explains why children cope with cancer so much better than adults. He says, It's a fact that children with cancer have higher cure rates than adults with cancer, and I wonder if the reason is their natural, unthinking bravery. Sometimes little kids seem better equipped to deal with cancer than adults. They're very determined little characters, and you don't have to give them big pep talks. Adults know too much about failure; they're more cynical and resigned and fearful. Kids say, I want to play. Hurry up and make me better.' That's all they want. This quote helps me each day and will continue to be my approach to life. I will never forget the news of my diagnosis and thinking about how I couldn't wait to get back to school to feel normal again. The MS could come along if it wanted to, but I was going to get back to life no matter what it took. When I was younger, I used to love reading Young and Modern, or YM to most teenagers. There are stories in this magazine under a section called Say Anything, and they always made me laugh out loud. Of course these were juvenile stories of walking out of the bathroom with your skirt tucked in your tights or something of that nature. I realized that there where others out there who had it worse than I did, and sadly, that always seemed to make me feel better. This is why telling our MS stories will help to enable other newly diagnosed individuals not only to begin this journey in a positive state, but also to find the strength they need from someone who might have it worse. I love my health-conscious lifestyle and feeling good about my body, so I needed health tips and recipes, too. Plus, I found friends and resources along the way that helped to make this book complete. This book is designed to help us join together and find the positive in all we have to face. I would like each individual who has been diagnosed with MS to be able to relate to some of the experiences he or she reads in this book and know that we still enjoy wonderful lives, even with this heinous disease. Reaching out to others and finding a positive network will help make us all stronger. My dream for this manuscript is to be passed along to someone newly diagnosed, and let them know that we can beat this disease together! I will leave you with a final quote by Lance Armstrong. If children have the ability to ignore odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell.
A “brilliant” biography of the Brontë family, dispelling popular myths and revealing the true story of Emily, Anne, Charlotte, and their father (The Independent on Sunday). The tragic story of the Brontë family has been told many times: the half-mad, repressive father; the drunken, drug-addicted brother; wildly romantic Emily; unrequited Anne; and “poor Charlotte.” But is any of it true? These caricatures of the popular imagination were created by amateur biographers like Elizabeth Gaskell who were more interested in lurid tales than genuine scholarship. Juliet Barker’s landmark book is the first definitive history of the Brontës. It demolishes the myths, yet provides startling new information that is just as compelling—but true. Based on firsthand research among all the Brontë manuscripts and among contemporary historical documents never before used by Brontë biographers, this book is both scholarly and compulsively readable. The Brontës is a revolutionary picture of the world’s favorite literary family.
